The intense race for the playoffs is in full gear. Check out the latest situation in the postseason chase. More ...

... so what does that mean for the best teams in football? Well there is some shakeup in the top 10, although the first three stand pat. The Atlanta Falcons won on the road against what appears to be a quality team in the Tampa Bay Buccaneers. Per the norm, they made it interesting, ultimately taking a one-point win. The San Francisco 49ers looked dominant in New Orleans, but with two losses and a tie, Jim Harbaugh's troops have too many missteps to take top billing.

Give the
Houston Texans credit. On a short week, on the road, they hung around and
ended up taking a game in which they looked to be dead on multiple occasions. They even survived their own coaching, i.e., when Kubes went all Schottenheimer on America and played for a long field goal in OT. Fail.

RANK

2

10-1FALCONS

Gritty road win for the Atlanta Falcons in Tampa, and a particularly gritty performance from
Julio Jones, who was questionable for Sunday. Nothing questionable about six catches for 147 yards and a touchdown. This team is primed for home field a la 2010 (with a different postseason result in mind, of course). At 10-1, it would take a pretty hefty fall from grace for Atlanta to
not be playing January football in the Georgia Dome.

Exhibit A of parity in the NFL:
Eli Manning and the
New York Giants. This is a team that hadn't played well in weeks, while Manning had been plum awful. He'd averaged 177 yards per game in his last three outings with no touchdowns and four interceptions. So what does Manning do on Sunday night?
Throw three touchdown passes and dominate the
Packers' defense. Last December, New York was 6-6, in a tailspin, with almost no hope for the playoffs. What did they do then? Win the
Super Bowl. The chasm between the good and bad clubs is not a chasm at all, with the difference in quality often being razor thin. Don't forget: This
Packers team
absolutely demolished the Texans in Week 6 and brought a five-game winning streak into Sunday night. The NFL truly is week to week, but Big Blue knows what weeks to turn it on.

RANK

9

7-4PACKERS

5

I don't make a habit of quoting Cris Collinsworth too often, but on Sunday's night broadcast, he quipped, "Every once in a while in the NFL, you have to burn the tape ..." Agreed, Cris. Burn it, Mike.

RANK

10

6-5BENGALS

5

The Carson Palmer homecoming was special. Really special ... for
Mike Zimmer's defense, which completely dominated at home. Cincinnati's former franchise quarterback entered Week 12 averaging 303.5 passing yards per game. The
Bengals held him to 146.

RANK

11

6-5SEAHAWKS

2

Tough road loss after a really long road trip to Miami for the
Seattle Seahawks. Here's the most important thing I took away from this game (something that bodes well for this organization's future): fourth quarter, second down, ball at their own 2, with the
Seahawks nursing a 14-7 lead. Again, the football was well within the five. How many teams turn around and hand off in that situation? Not
Pete Carroll. That's trust in your rookie quarterback, and it tells you all you need to know about whether or not
Russell Wilson is for real.

RANK

12

6-5BUCCANEERS

1

The
Tampa Bay Buccaneers can't move up in the rankings, or make the playoffs, or be considered a contender until they take care of bidness at home against quality teams. The
Falcons were there for the taking, and
Connor Barth's 56-yard miss is
not the reason Tampa couldn't finish the job. The secondary is the biggest culprit. And now the Bucs are 6-5, as opposed to being in prime position for a wild-card slot.

Congratulations to the
Indianapolis Colts, who seem to be on a crash course for an AFC wild-card berth. An issue looming for this club -- one that its fan base surely has noticed through 11 games -- is the glaring lack of takeaways. The minus-14 turnover differential is not as big an issue against the
Bills and Jags of the world, but if Indy is forced to play in Denver in the opening round of the playoffs ... You get the picture. Either way, who would've thought Indy would be 7-4, much less win seven games all season?

RANK

15

5-6SAINTS

2

The Niners
dealt a heavy blow to the New Orleans Saints' playoff hopes on Sunday. At 5-6, the
Saints are still in the mix, but with away games against the
Falcons and and
Giants coming up, the road ain't gonna be easy. That said, if the secondary can compete the way it has the last couple of weeks, there's a chance.
Drew Brees was uncharacteristically off on several plays vs. the
49ers and paid for it with two pick-six's that changed the game. Fat chance that happens again.

At 6-5, the
Minnesota Vikings look OK on paper. But the reality is, with Green Bay (twice) and Chicago (again) coming up
on the schedule, the playoffs are far-fetched. The back-to-back mulligan performances in Week 8 (
loss to the Bucs) and Week 9 (
loss to the Seahawks) are the real culprits. Remember that when folks start talking about faint playoff hopes in a week or so.

Ryan Lindley wasn't the answer Sunday. Nor was Beanie Wells. No, the elixir for a team that has gone from 4-0 to 4-7 (and looked awful ugly in the process) is an offensive line that can at least play even. Instead, the
Arizona Cardinals are getting whipped at the point of the attack. The running game only averaged 3.2 yards per carry
versus the Rams. And even that figure was pumped up by an
Andre Roberts scamper for 13 yards, the longest run of the afternoon; that's great, but he's a wide receiver. Too often this team can't pass protect. And even when it does, it makes up for it by getting blasted in the ground game.

RANK

26

3-8PANTHERS

2

Closing out a football game -- that's what the
Carolina Panthers needed. Not a monster fantasy game from
Cam Newton. Not 20 tackles from Defensive Rookie of the Year
Luke Kuechly. Not another
almost. After suffering six one-score losses this year, Carolina finally closed the door in the fourth quarter
on Monday night. Kicker
Graham Gano tried to make it interesting by missing an extra point to keep Philly in the game. That's a great way to make friends in the locker room in your first week with the team.

The
Philadelphia Eagles were forced to start rookie tailback
Bryce Brown on Monday night.
Andy Reid gave the kid 19 carries, something
LeSean McCoy received just once in his last six games. Makes sense. It's not like McCoy is one of the best backs in the league or anything.

After watching
Jason Campbell in Week 11 -- not to mention,
Charlie Batch in Cleveland on Sunday -- it was nice to see a "backup" quarterback make some big throws down the field, as opposed to dinks and dunks and bunch of none-yard outs.
Chad Henne has averaged over 10 yards per attempt for two straight weeks -- that's a first down every time the ball leaves his hand. How does it feel to see a real live pro offense, Jags fans? Pretty cool, huh?

RANK

31

3-8RAIDERS

1

Anyone have any ideas on what to write here? Looking for anything positive. The
Oakland Raiders have lost
55-20,
38-17 and
34-10 in successive weeks.
Carson Palmer can't get anything going early in games, when the contest is at least still in doubt, while the defense has been the worst in pro football. Oakland came into Week 12 allowing 32.2 points per game. This just in: That average didn't improve Sunday.